Independent Inca Trail information for visitors to
Peru. This is a non-commercial site.

Licensed Inca
Trail Tour Operators 2016

All companies operating the Inca Trail must be
registered and have a special Inca Trail operators license. This license is
issued annually each January. There are 188 licensed operators (2015). Many
of these companies, however, may only operate a trek a couple of times a
month during the high season and these treks are mainly private groups for
overseas tour companies. Great care has to be taken when choosing a tour
operator since many companies have great looking websites but operate out of
a bedroom on the outskirts of Cusco!! There are really only a handful of
reliable tour operators that offer the Inca Trail trek with fixed-date
departures throughout the year. When making a trek booking you will be asked
to pay a deposit of about 50%. This is needed by the company to buy your
trek permit and reserve your train tickets. Always ensure that this deposit
is paid to a company account and not to an account in the name of one of the
employees. All companies listed in Part 1 below are well established and
recommended in at least one major guidebook so you shouldn't have any
problems. Many accept payment of the deposit by credit card or PayPal to
their company account. The companies listed in Part 2 below are a bit of an
unknown quantity to us. At least 20 companies are completely new and another
20 companies previously listed in 2014 did not receive their license in 2015
(obviously not listed below). For added security try to avoid wiring money
to individuals working for these companies and ask for their company account
details. Beware of "too good to be true" trek prices.

The information given in this website is given
in good faith and the authors cannot be responsible for the services
provided by the individual companies.

The following trekking companies have received consistently
good reviews:

Small family run trekking business specializing only in the 4-day Inca Trail to
Machu Picchu. Fixed departures every Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout the
year. Good treatment of their porters. Consistently highly recommended so book
well in advance. Inca Trail 4 day / 3 night price US$625 (2016)

The companies
listed below mainly operate tours and treks for overseas tour operators, hence
the prices listed on their websites have been well over-inflated. If booking
direct try to negotiate a discount.

This group of licensed Inca Trail tour
operators are well established and services provided by them are
likely to be professional and reliable. You will find them recommended in many
of the popular guidebooks.

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site is original work and is subject to international copyright law.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited without prior permission from
the editor. This web page was last updated in January 2015.